Skating Uphill April Edition\u00a02021 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By Judith Lawrenson<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“This is on of the three times a year that I just hate!”
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0“The Uphill Skater”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All right, so I really don’t mean that I actually hate any time of the year, especially Spring. but this my situation-three times a year I am moved, to get stuff done. New Years Day, my birthday, and Spring somehow get to me. I see everything I own as needing to be rearranged, thrown out, repaired, donated to charity and on and on. I think this might be hormonal, but I also know that that kind of thinking is very out of date nowadays. I feel the urge coming on though, so I thought I would share some insights with you.\u00a0
Briefly, here it is. Clean out the pantry and start on a brand new healthy eating plan. Note I did not say diet and I have a very good reason for that. I hospital dietitian told me recently that any plan that you go on that has a beginning and an end will never work. I have enough experience to know that this is true.\u00a0 Next, go through your closet. and finally, clean your house. I did say this was brief, right? Oh, but of course, this is not really the point of this month’s column. In addition to this regular stuff that drives me crazy, I have added, this Spring, something new that I really must share. I have taken up gardening!\u00a0
Maybe you already have a big vegetable garden or flowers by the ton, or even watermelon, but I do not and I never have. I grew up on a farm and we had alfalfa and cotton. People do not eat those things or have them in their house in case you have not noticed. I was inspired to all of this by a TV show which is a bit odd since I am not a real TV watcher.\u00a0 This show is about a British couple who buy a chateau in France that has 100 rooms, a 25 acre lot, and is nearly 200 years old. A big part of this show is about the garden they create. Just by sprinkling some wild flower seeds, the woman is able to grow what they call a cutting garden. She has lovely flowers for months and puts them in her chateau and everything looks fabulous. Okay, so maybe I can’t do that, but I can certainly go down to the nursery and buy some flower seedlings and make a start of it. I am really looking forward to trying this. I seldom try anything completely different so by going out of the box a bit I am taking a bit of a risk, but I think it is going to be fun.\u00a0
I am also going to plant some tomatoes. I already have my plants in the garage and will put them in shortly. I did a bit of this last year. Just for fun and to fill an empty spot, I planted a little grape tomato plant. I actually had tomatoes and I actually ate them. Again, this may be all boring old news for some of you green thumb types out there, but i was quite a thrill for me.\u00a0 This year I am going to plant not only some more tomatoes, but some herbs too. I use a lot of basil and rosemary so I will plant that. I also really like flat leaf parsley so I am going for that too. I can hardly wait to see things grow, and I really hope not to\u00a0have grocery store flowers and hard tomatoes this summer.\u00a0 Boy Oh Boy!<\/p>\n\n\n\n